Introduction

Spiritual Unfoldment by Swami Abhedananda, a direct disciple of Sri Ramakrishna Paramhamsa Dev, is a guide for those who are willing to learn methodically and earnestly the practices of Yoga and spiritual Sadhana, for attaining selfcontrol and complete mastery over their senses, body and mind The author, being a man of Realization and highly gifted teacher of humanity, knows best the method of achieving the highest goal of human life. He knows well the difficulties and pitfalls in the path of spiritual progress, while proceeding through the yogic practices and Vedantic sadhana. He puts forward different knotty problems of the Yoga method, solves them with a master hand by clearing all doubts, and leads the spiritual seekers of Truth step by step to the highest destination of the transcendental knowledge He discloses the secrets of concentration, and assures us that they are the best spiritual methods of attaining the supramental truth and absolute freedom He warns us against the danger that we are generally apt to fall into, by being deluded by the charms of the gradually developed psychic powers and urges us to be fully cautious of them by keeping our minds fixed upon the highest ideal. He says that we should learn to keep ourselves away from the snares of worldly pleasures first by right discrimination (viveka or sadasadvichard) and then by concentrating our mind (dhyana} upon the summum bonum of life.

Swami Abhedananda classifies his discourses into three illuminating chapters, self-control, concentration and meditation, and Godconsciousness. Self-control is the key to unlock the mystery of concentration and meditation. Concentrated attention next leads the Sadhakas directly to the temple of Godconsciousness. Swamiji says that the spiritual life of a man or a woman depends upon the subjugation (damana) or suppression (nirodha) of the senses, upon the self-control (samjamari) of the passions and desires, and upon the manifestation of Divine powers that are latent in the reservoir of the subconscious or unconscious in every individual soul. Concentration leads to meditation means, concentration prepares the mind of the seekers of truth to reach the state of concentrated attention or meditation after reducing its distracted and diverged modification (manovrittis) to an unbroken flow of one current of thought (niravachinna-ekamukhi-chintadhara) towards a fixed ideal. By gaining the power of meditation, a Yogi enters into the state of Godconsciousness, which is called in the treatise on Yoga, Samadhi. In fact, Godconsciousness is not a state at all, although commonly known as the fourth state or turiya, because it transcends all other states, first, second and third (Virat, Hiranyagarbha and Isvara chaitanyas) in its surpassing nature and essence. The states are nothing but the different levels of consciousness, and the fourth or transcending consciousness is the pure consciousness (shudhha chaitanya) itself. Having attained this pure consciousness or enlightenment, the soul enters into the abode of eternal peace and serene tranquillity.

Acharya Sankara and other non-dualist Vedantists criticize this state of emancipation or mukti, achieved through the process of Yoga, because they say that there is a great deal of difference between the yogic intuition and the Vedantic intuition. They argue that mere subjugation or suppression of mad rushes of the passions and desires means the reduction of gross forms of the passions and desires into their causal state. They are rather forced to sleep in the bed of the unconscious, but are likely to wake up under favourable conditions. So, by suppression one cannot get permanent peace, but it offers him only temporary calmness of the mind. In fact, the non-dualist Vedantists want the passions and desires to be eternally sublimated into pure consciousness. Like the Vedantists, Sri Aurodindo [Aurobindo?] also said that the ripus (passions and desires) cannot be conquered by damana. It is only by purification through the divine consciousness entering into the egoistic nature and changing it that this can be done.

Swami Abhedananda’s position in his discourses is also quite clear. He deals with the subject of spiritual unfoldment purely from the yogic standpoint, and so it is neither necessary for him to compare his method of treatment with any other systems of philosophical thoughts, nor to refute the method of Yoga in the light of the Advaita Vedanta. Otherwise, when he deals with the process of controlling of the mind in his Doctrine of Karma he says: “Instead of indulging in desires, some say, you should kill them out. But you cannot kill them out. There are certain cults that teach: ‘kill out all the desires and make your mind blank’. We cannot do that. We can reduce the number of desires by discrimination and not allowing indulgence. In that way we can purify our heart or mind." This purification of mind is no other than the sublimation or transformation (rupantarakaran [rupantarakarana]) of the mind into pure consciousness. Sri Ramakrishna also instruct the spiritual aspirants to change or reverse the course of thought from one side to another (‘more phiriye de’), and the change implies the notion of purification of the mind.

Sri Ramakrishna has said that all the systems of spiritual practices are true, as they lead us to one and the same goal in the final analysis. The paths of progress may differ, but the destination or goal is the same. The ultimate aim of all the systems of religion and spiritual practices is to be free from the bondage of ignorance and simultaneously to attain mukti or salvation. So Swami Abhedananda says that a real aspirant of spiritual knowledge may choose and adopt any one of the systems or practices that suits him, and if he is a sincere seeker after truth, he will surely reach the goal.

Swamiji makes his discourses all through very lucid and clear, so that we may grasp and understand the secrets of the subject easily and make them applicable in our daily life. His style and language are penetrating and transparent, and they show us the inner depth, true significance and real purport of the subject and thus help us in realizing the highest truth.

We shall be glad if the author’s earnest desire of enlightening the hearts of the readers is fulfilled.

S. Prajnanananda (Prajñānānanda)